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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Smile and Laugh, The Benefits Will Surprise You

By George M. Graham Jr.

Dale Carnegie, in his book, How To Win Friends
& Influence People, included a chapter entitled, “A Simple Way To Make A Good First
Impression.” In this chapter he shares that the principle to making a good
first impression is to smile.

If you don’t feel like smiling – what do you do?
Carnegie says, “…force yourself to smile... Act as if you were already happy,
and that will tend to make you happy.” He goes on to share how the psychologist
and philosopher William James described this process.

“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action
and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more
direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is
not.”

Studies show that wearing a smile can bring about
benefits for the individual. A genuine smile, referred to as a Duchenne smile,
involves changes in the muscles around the eyes and the mouth.

The facial changes
involved with smiling seem to have a direct affect on brain activities that are
associated with happiness by releasing endorphins into the brain. Studies indicate
that smiling and laughing reduce stress hormones which will increase the
efficiency of the immune system.

Research suggests that those who smile more may live
longer than those who smile less. Another study indicated that laughing can be
a total body workout. It lowers blood pressure, increases vascular blood flow and
the oxygenation of the blood.

I recently read that a smile uses approximately 36
muscles, but a frown uses approximately 97 muscles. A smile releases the
muscles on your scalp, which in turn lets the blood flow more easily. As you
continue to smile, which is releasing oxygen into the brain, you actually become
happier.

By smiling more and frowning less, you can influence
your mental health and elicit more positive connections with others – smiles
have an impact on social relationships. A genuine smile can send a message that
people can trust you and will increase their willingness to trust you. Smiling
sends a signal to others of your willingness to cooperate and it enhances our
attractiveness.

As a young man, I used to enjoy watching a television
program called “House Party,” hosted by Art Linkletter. As part of the
show, Mr. Linkletter would interview a panel of kids individually. The
responses of the kids were not always what he expected. The many humorous things
they said led him to write a book entitled, Kids Say The Darndest Things.

As an example, on one show, Mr. Linkletter asked a
little boy what his father did for a living. Here is how the rest of the
conversation unfolded.

Little boy: “My father’s a school teacher.”

Mr. Linkletter: “That’s a fine profession. Does he
like it?”

Little boy: “He only has one thing to complain
about.”

Mr. Linkletter: “What’s that?”

Little boy: “The kids.”One study indicated that healthy children laugh as much as 400 times a day, whereas adults, on average, laugh only 15 times per day. Maybe we can learn something from children. Another study indicates that you can still benefit from the effects of smiling and laughter even if it is faked. The body cannot tell the difference between the fake and the real – the physical benefits are still the same.

Norman Cousins, a former editor of the "Saturday
Review," shares his personal story of overcoming a deteriorating condition in
his book Anatomy Of An Illness As Perceived By The Patient. After
learning that his chances of survival were not very good, Cousins left the hospital
and checked himself into a hotel.

Cousins took charge of his own recovery program, and he
acquired a movie projector along with some Marx Brothers’ movies and episodes
of Candid Camera. He watched these programs and laughed his way back into good
health. In his book, he states, “I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes
of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least
two hours of pain-free sleep.”

He later went on to explain that laughter included a
full range of positive emotions such as hope, faith, love, humor, creativity,
playfulness, great expectations, and the will to live. Cousins believed all of
this contributed to the improvement of his condition.

There are many other
experiments and studies that indicate that Cousins was on to something – laughter can be helpful to your health in many ways. Studies have shown laughter appears to travel through a circuit that runs through many regions of
the brain.

One simple step you can take to help yourself deal with a busy, stressed out, and overwhelming life is to laugh. It has been said that laughter is the best medicine, and it has been proven through research and numerous studies. It can provide not only physical benefits, but also emotional, social, and psychological benefits as well. It can change a person’s outlook from hopelessness to hopefulness.Some things you can do to increase your smiling and
laughing:

Read a
funny book or the funny pages/comic strips

Watch
a funny movie or TV show

Play with
children

Play
with your pet

Spend
time with people who have a sense of humor

Be
spontaneous - do something silly

Count
your blessings

Laugh
at yourself – don’t take yourself so seriously

Participate
in laugh therapy

Laugh
out loud

Look
for humor in life

Make
having fun a priority, especially with family and close friends

Remember,
smile and the world smiles with you.

You can laugh or smile any time, any place, and even
if you are all alone. It only takes making a decision and training yourself to
look for the possibilities to smile and laugh. You can choose to follow after
ways to experience laughter which will help bring about positive changes. It
will benefit you, and more importantly, it will benefit others.

About Me

George M. Graham Jr. received his B.S. and MA. Ed. Degrees in the field of special education from East Carolina University. Not only has he taught students with all types of disabilities, but Graham has also served as an educational diagnostician, a program specialist, a consultant, as well as the Director of Exceptional Children in two school systems.

In his over 40 years of experience in the field of special education, he has been able to present to groups of parents, teachers, administrators, and many different organizations. Graham has worked in school systems in three different states and worked with local, state, and national level committees to promote continuous improvement of services for individuals with disabilities. He is the founder of the Dare To Do Your Best project.

Graham formerly worked with Easter Seals UCP as a Project Manager for a grant overseeing services for individuals with intellectual/development disabilities in several counties in Eastern North Carolina.

Originally from Fayetteville, N.C., Graham learned to play the drums in high school in the 1960's. After high school and a short stint in college, he went on the road playing music full time.

During his time on the road, he worked with such pop and R&B artists as Percy Sledge and Chubby Checker. He also performed in concert opening acts for the Boxtops, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Wet Willie, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Steam, Mel and Tim, Mary Wells and many others.

Over the years, Graham has played with a variety of bands performing different genres of music. His roots in rock and roll, southern rock, classic rock, and R&B help him to express his special "mojo" through his drumming. He has become a versatile drummer who loves playing all styles of music.

Graham enjoys incorporating music into his presentations. In the appropriate setting, he will often utilize drums as a teaching technique to emphasize the key points of the presentation.